McLeod Leans Into AI, Revamps User Interface
Software Vendor Marks 40 Years in Business
Key Takeaways:
- McLeod Software showcased its AI investments and partnerships at its 2025 user conference, including its first proprietary AI tool that cuts communication response times from 30 minutes to seconds.
- The company released a completely revamped user interface for its core LoadMaster and PowerBroker transportation management software as part of what CEO Tom McLeod called the company's "third startup phase."
- McLeod also announced a partnership with autonomous truck developer Aurora Innovation that will allow customers to dispatch and manage self-driving trucks through its TMS platform.
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DENVER — McLeod Software highlighted the emerging opportunities for artificial intelligence to streamline freight operations and outlined the latest upgrades to its transportation management system at its 2025 user conference.
The trucking software developer, which marked its 40th year in business at the event, showcased its own investments in AI along with its partnerships with a growing number of third-party AI technology vendors — and even an autonomous truck developer.
At the Sept. 22 opening session, the company’s founder and CEO, Tom McLeod, was welcomed to the stage by an AI-generated video of a younger version of himself created from a decades-old photo.
“AI is the topic that’s on everyone’s mind,” McLeod said. “For us in the software business, from my point of view, AI is simply another tool to do what computers have been doing for 40 years.”
When he founded McLeod Software in 1985, computers were replacing typewriters in trucking offices to enable fleets to more efficiently manage freight bills and driver paychecks.
“Productivity went up,” McLeod said. “That’s the same thing we’re seeing with AI. It allows a person to do more in less time.”
Attendees peruse the exhibits at McLeod’s 2025 user conference in Denver. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)
Earlier this year, McLeod released its first proprietary AI tool, MPact.RespondAI, which automatically converts emails into orders and drafts responses to rate requests and messages from drivers and customers. By partially automating those communications, carriers and brokers can cut typical response times from 30 minutes to seconds, the company said. Apart from its own products, McLeod also emphasized its software integrations with an expanding ecosystem of outside AI developers.
“We can’t do everything,” McLeod said. “We have to integrate with lots of other products and services that help your business.”
About 70 industry suppliers and McLeod integration partners exhibited at the conference, including nine providers of AI services, by McLeod’s count.
While the rise of AI and automation often prompts questions about the future of the workforce, McLeod advised attendees to embrace the potential of AI rather than fearing it.
“It’s very important to get involved in it,” he said, “because your competitors are learning it. They’re using it. They’re getting more productive.”
Mark Hill and Danielle Villegas of PCS Software discuss their AI engine, Cortex, designed specifically to level the playing field for midsized carriers. Tune in above or by going to .
However, McLeod also cautioned that AI models are not perfect and cannot solve all problems today. He pointed to the widely publicized shortcomings of GPT-5, the latest flagship model used in OpenAI’s enormously popular AI chatbot, including its failure to accurately label a map of the 50 U.S. states due to issues with rendering text within images.
In addition to developing new AI tools for the industry, technology companies are also using AI to improve their internal business processes. McLeod Software’s programmers are now completing an extra two to three hours worth of work per day, which is accelerating product development cycles, McLeod said.
Apart from the growing focus on AI, McLeod also promoted the next generation of its LoadMaster and PowerBroker transportation management software.
The company has released a completely revamped user interface for those core products to help speed up workflows and give logistics teams better tools to improve visibility and decision making.
“We have reengineered the user interface,” McLeod said. “We’ve worked with customers to shorten number of steps it takes to do certain tasks.”
He described the past few years as the company’s “third startup phase” as it rewrote its software in its biggest redesign project since a previous rewrite in the 2000-04 time frame and the development of the initial product in 1985.
“We’re not done with continuing to make the software better, but this marks a real inflection point, we believe, in our product line,” McLeod said.
McLeod also discussed his company’s partnership with driverless truck developer Aurora Innovation, which showcased one of its self-driving trucks in the exhibit hall. That collaboration, announced last month, will enable joint customers to dispatch and manage autonomous trucks via McLeod’s TMS platform.
“This is a huge technology that’s going to have enormous impact on the industry when it rolls out, and we want our customers to be in the front row, being able to participate in that,” McLeod said.
Aurora showcases an autonomous truck and discusses its integration with McLeod’s TMS platform. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)
Just prior to the conference, El Paso, Texas-based dedicated carrier Russell Transport became the first McLeod user to manage an autonomous freight move via the TMS integration, which is currently in beta testing.
Aurora launched its initial autonomous trucking service on the Dallas-Houston lane in late April, but several other self-driving truck developers are also readying their technology for commercial rollout.
“We intend to integrate with all the providers that have success in the marketplace,” McLeod said.
The company also emphasized its efforts to improve customer service and support.
Missy Wright, McLeod’s vice president of core operations, outlined changes aimed at enhancing the customer experience through faster support, frequent site visits and a wealth of training resources.
Since last year’s user conference, McLeod Software has improved its resolution response time by 63%, Wright said.
Much of the conference program emphasized profitability and operational efficiency at a time when the trucking industry continues to endure a prolonged downturn in freight rates that has lasted for three and a half years.
McLeod acknowledged the financial strain these freight market conditions have placed on trucking businesses and attributed the soft rate environment to a stubborn overabundance of truck capacity.
“It’s just too easy to find a truck, and that has persisted,” he said.
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